At least 15 of the business leaders set to travel with Governor Charlie Baker on his trade mission to Israel have contributed to his campaigns for governor, according to a Globe review of campaign finance records. And some of those donors include top officials at companies with business before the state of Massachusetts.
For example, Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel, president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is poised to join Baker. She donated $1,000 to his campaign in October, state records show. And Brigham and Women’s Hospital is overseen by state agencies that report to Baker.
When contributions to Baker’s lieutenant governor, Karyn Polito, and the Baker-backed pro-charter school ballot question are taken into account, the business leaders have given tens of thousands of dollars to date, state records show.
Baker was set to leave from Logan International Airport Thursday evening for the trip, which is billed as focusing on digital health and cybersecurity. A news release from his office listed dozens of businesspeople who are accompanying him.
Asked whether it is appropriate that members of the delegation have contributed to Baker and affiliated campaigns, Baker adviser Tim Buckley did not directly respond to the question.
“The Baker-Polito administration is grateful to have such a highly respected field of academics and high-tech business leaders join the governor to strengthen the economic ties that exist with Israel and have created thousands of jobs here in the Commonwealth,’’ Buckley said.
Erin McDonough, chief communication officer for Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said Nabel received her invitation for the trip in August and has a particular interest in digital health. She said the hospital is covering Nabel’s trip costs.
In 2011, when then-Governor Deval Patrick traveled on a trade mission to Israel, he was also joined by business leaders who were campaign contributors and had business before the state, the Globe reported at the time.
Baker, who will also be joined by his wife, Lauren, and several top officials from local universities, is set to return to Massachusetts next week.
It is not clear what percentage of people traveling with Baker gave to his campaigns, because the administration’s news release did not include a full list.
Baker is up for reelection in 2018.
Joshua Miller
An unusually frank want ad
It’s not something that a congressman usually puts on the public record, but then again US Representative Seth Moulton is not your run-of-the-mill discreet politician, one of the reasons for his high public profile.
In a help-wanted post on the MASSterList newsletter, Moulton says he is looking for a campaign finance director to raise $3.5 million for what he says will be his 2018 reelection campaign.
The fund-raising work will take up a third of the congressman’s time, the posting says. “He will be accountable for about 30 percent of the Congressman’s time,’’ reads the candid job description on the job board created by the State House News Service.
That may sound like a lot of time devoted to raising money, but it may actually be a bit less than what Democrats — and Republicans — are usually forced to do.
Still, it didn’t go unnoticed among the state GOP, which did not field a candidate against Moulton this year. “Congressman Moulton’s blatant admission that he’ll spend 30 percent of his time on political fundraising is disturbing. The people of the North Shore deserve full time representation, not a C- effort,’’ chided state GOP chairwoman Kirsten Hughes.
But Moulton’s camp sees it as a good advertisement for a cause he has championed. “All the more reason for campaign finance reform,’’ said Moulton’s spokeswoman Carrie Rankin.
Frank Phillips
Bellotti saw Trump coming
If anyone could have predicted Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton, it was former Massachusetts attorney general Frank Bellotti. He had seen the same dynamic before, up close, in 1990 — in his final of many campaigns extending back to 1958.
Bellotti was a heavy favorite to win the Democratic nomination for governor. His own poll the night before the party primary showed him 10 points up over his closest rival, Boston University president John Silber.
But a “hidden’’ Silber vote — angry Democrats and independents, furious over the fiscal and political chaos that had gripped Beacon Hill — came out in force. Silber, whose controversial Trump-like outbursts became known as “Silber Shockers,’’ won by just over 100,000 votes out of 1 million cast.
That upset gave Bellotti, who voted for Clinton in last month’s election, the confidence this fall to bet a former Massachusetts congressmen that Trump would win, despite the overwhelming analysis and polling data showing otherwise.
“Bill Delahunt owes me a dinner,’’ chuckled the former three-term attorney general about besting his longtime friend.
“What Trump was saying is what a lot of people, intelligent people, were saying to me,’’ said Bellotti, who at 93 is still on the Democratic circuit, attending fund-raisers for local candidates and enjoying his status as a political icon from a past era when Massachusetts politics was bigger than the Red Sox.
“They are tired of the Democratic Party focusing on bathroom bills and ignoring the guy in West Virginia who is out of work and starving,’’ said Bellotti. “They believe the party has left us.’’
Frank Phillips
Ed Markey, king of wordplay
Comes this week another proud inductee into the Ed Markey Wordplay Hall of Fame, on the occasion of President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
“As its leader, Scott Pruitt would have EPA stand for Every Polluter’s Ally,’’ Senator Markey said in a statement. Boom, roasted. (Previously, he had suggested that, under Democrats, EPA stood for “End Petroleum Addiction.’’)
Markey is renowned for a vast arsenal of puns, reconstructed acronyms, and other linguistic merriment.
Last year, regarding Comcast’s failed acquisition of Time Warner Cable: “The only competition consumer[s] would have had in their living rooms if this mega-merger had gone forward would be who handles the remote control.’’
On the House floor in 2011, then-Representative Markey rolled out, “GOP used to stand for ‘Grand Old Party’, now it stands for ‘Get Old People’. ’’ Previously, he had suggested that GOP stood for “Grandstand, Oppose, and Pretend.’’
Several times, some variation of: “We have to make sure NRA stands for Not Relevant Anymore.’’
And the old standby, an all-timer: “We are not just the ‘Bay State,’ we are the ‘Brain State’. ’’
Jim O’Sullivan
Bipartisan sendoff for Ayotte
Outgoing US Senator Kelly Ayotte got a bipartisan farewell on the floor of the Senate Wednesday — with speeches from Democrats Jeanne Shaheenand Claire McCaskilland Republicans John McCainand Lindsey Graham.
Ayotte is a one-term New Hampshire Republican who lost her reelection bid last month to Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan. Her colleagues described her as bipartisan in her approach to legislating, with a particular interest in looking out for veterans and the military — and in fighting the region’s opioid crisis.
McCain, the Arizona senator who called Ayotte as “my dear friend,’’ described her ability to grill bureaucrats until they withered. Shaheen, of New Hampshire, talked about their ability to disagree without being disagreeable. “That’s the New Hampshire way,’’ she said.
McCaskill, of Missouri, described working with Ayotte when they found themselves aligned against many of the other women in the Senate — presumably referring to legislation to prevent sexual assault in the military, an issue on which New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrandand others took a different approach.
“I’ve been lucky enough to be in the trenches with Kelly Ayotte,’’ she said. “There is something about her demeanor that lifts you up. . . . We were outnumbered by our fellow women senators, and it was hard, really hard, and emotional.’’
McCaskill summed up Ayotte as a warrior, a class act, and a friend.
Which prompted this from Graham, the senator from South Carolina: “To Claire and Kelly, if I go to war, I want to go with y’all.’’
Felice Belman
